Each month for the past seven years physicians from the University of Nevada School of Medicine Department of Family and Community Medicine in Reno travel to Yerington to provide prenatal care to rural patients. The monthly clinics allow patients in the Yerington area to receive routine prenatal care without traveling great distances to visit a physician.

"It's important for all expectant mothers to receive routine prenatal care," says Catherine McCarthy, M.D., Yerington Obstetrics Clinic director and professor of Family and Community Medicine. "Currently, there are no physicians practicing obstetrics in Yerington, so this program offers prenatal care to patients who might otherwise have difficulty in obtaining or accessing care."

Clinics are held the second Tuesday of each month from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the South Lyon Medical Center. Routine prenatal care, including ultrasounds, is provided at all clinics which are attended by at least one faculty physician and two resident physicians. Physicians may provide referrals to patients requiring specialized prenatal care and screening.

The school's physicians, who see patients through University Health System, the clinical practice of the University of Nevada School of Medicine, deliver approximately 25 babies each year through the Yerington Obstetrics Clinic program. All babies are delivered at Renown Regional Medical Center in Reno.

The Yerington Obstetrics Clinic program is made possible through a grant from High Sierra Area Health Education Center, a division of the School of Medicine's Center for Education Health Services Outreach.